Submission 5 - Alistair Bell

LoC Plot

During Lanfear's visit to the Snakes and Foxes (where she
was separated from Moiraine) she had to pay a price, as
Mat did. In this case, she knew enough to negotiate it,
but it involved leaving this age and travelling two ages
back in time through the worlds of 'if'. [Yes, you know
the rest...] She arrived in a place known by its
inhabitants as Am'erica. Not a place she had heard of,
but she soon found a willing minion in the form of a man
crouched in front of a strange ter'angreal he called a
'computer'. Oddly enough, he seemed to know a little
about her. Using small flows of Spirit, she persuaded him
to teach her about them, and after some amount of
teaching, he pointed her at the concept of 'anonymous
mail'. At the end of the book, she was seen heading
northwest...

In the meantime, Thom, off searching for Moiraine, came
across a small oblong object of a soft material and
construction he had not seen. It had obviously been
burned, since it was charred and twisted, but he could
clearly make out some markings on it. Using some form of
ink, the word 'Casio' seemed written on the front, and
the letters 'JSN' seemed to have been carved on it using
some form of sharp tool. He threw it away, deciding it
was of no value, and certainly no proof that Moiraine was
alive or dead.

[OK, silliness over...]

The Seanchan have indeed taken much of the west, and
their Ever Victorious Army marches into Amadicia and
meets the Whitecloaks. Galad sends for help to Elayne at
Salidar seeing the way the Seanchan fight using damane.
El and Nyn persuade the AS to come to the aid of the
Whitecloaks (much to everybody's chagrin) and they drive
the Seanchan out of Amadicia. However, the victory is
achieved at the expense of a total realignment of the AS
and the Whitecloaks; the Whitecloaks split much as the
Aiel did over Rand and Couladin, since they see that
these AS are not DFs, and the AS find they have suddenly
become an army (they were in dire peril of their lives
facing channelers not restricted by the Three Oaths, so
could kill the damane etc., and indeed there are a fair
number of Greens at Salidar who discover they quite like
battle). What remains of the Whitecloaks and the AS go
off to confront the BA, now openly in control of the
White Tower, having turned Elaida to the Shadow using a
circle of thirteen. Morgase and her friends join up with
the Whitecloak/AS partnership. Morgase and Gareth Bryne
make up, which SS doesn't like one bit.

Before Perrin and Faile leave the TR, they are visited by
a strangely familiar character who has some good ideas
about fire. Having checked out their effectiveness, they
decide to trust Aludra with the civil defence of Emond's
Field.

Perrin's expeditionary force joins up with Rand and the
Aiel in Caemlyn. The Aiel who were with Perrin vouch for
the TR army to a very suspicious Aiel army who eventually
accept them. They march north to deal with the White
Tower.

Mat joins up with Davram Bashere's army which heads back
in the direction of Saldaea looking for Taim. Their way
is blocked by another party of Seanchan. In the ensuing
battle, most of Bashere's army is zapped, but Mat
survives due to his foxhead amulet and nifty
staff-cum-sword, and gets through to the Seanchan HQ.
Here he finds that the Empress is actually a puppet ruler
controlled by Graendal. Graendal thinks she can just
reach out with the Power and stop Mat's heart, but of
course fails. She's so complacent she doesn't notice
Mat's spear-thrust. Exit Graendal. The Empress, of
course, is so grateful that she offers him her daughter's
hand in marriage. Thus Mat marries the Daughter of the
Nine Moons (there and then, pretty much) and starts
commanding the Seanchan army, having told the Empress a
few home truths about how things are these days and what
AS are really like. The damane are freed and given places
of honour, to persuade them to stay with the army. The
sul'dam are told they can be Tower-trained if they wish,
provided they come and defeat the existing Tower. They
will then get the new honour bestowed on ex-damane.
Surprisingly few desert, and the army agrees to join up
with Rand outside Tar Valon. (Mat's ta'veren nature
strikes again)

All the armies meet up on the plain around Dragonmount:
Rand, Perrin, the Aiel and the TR army arriving from the
south, the Andor/Amadicia/Salidar people from the
south-west with Elayne and Nynaeve, and the
Seanchan/what's left of Bashere army with Mat from the
west. The Salidar army is initially extremely
antipathetic to the Seanchan one, but they are soon
appraised of the changed situation. Egwene, seeing the
freed damane, meets some of them and discovers some
friends she made at Falme. Of course, their names have
all changed, since they are using their own names rather
than the ones the sul'dam gave them.

But Rand knows that the destruction of the Tower by force
will solve nothing. It must be turned back to the Light,
otherwise there will be too few channelers at Tarmon
Gai'don. So he enters Tar Valon and goes to the White
Tower. As he enters, he is pounced on by the circle of
thirteen who subverted Elaida. However, Egwene, knowing
what may happen having spied on Elaida and co in T'A'R,
has learnt how to use balefire. With the aid of an
angreal she picked up from Moiraine's stock left at the
docks, she BF's Alviarin who is one of the circle, and
the ensuing confusion is enough for Rand to be unshielded
and deal with the rest.

Even with Alviarin and her senior cronies dealt with, the
Tower refuses to crumble. So Rand calls on Mat's Seanchan
damane to give a little demonstration of their abilities.
The Tower is defeated, the rest of the BA stilled, and
the Salidar AS take control. They install Egwene on the
Amyrlin Seat, not knowing she is not bound by the Three
Oaths. She chooses as her Keeper an ex-damane, which
surprises the Tower but makes a lot of sense really. Her
real name of course is Beldeine.

The last seal is found shattered, and the effect of
Shai'*** on the world begins to be felt. However, with
very few Forsaken to aid him, he can do very little to
start with. But he starts massing Trollocs and Fades in
huge numbers for an attack on Rand. On hearing this, Rand
and his combined army march north, massing around Shienar
where Demandred is stirring up trouble. Rand quietly
finishes Demandred off. End of book.